An angel's voice

Elijah/ Rachel

Starts in the Glee episode 1x09 where Rachel prepares for her Defying Gravity duel with Kurt.

In TVD, set sometimes before the curse is broken, when Katherine is on the run.

Elijah had fallen out of his brother's trusting circle a few decades ago and he knew that the only way for him to regain his trust was to bring him Katerina, to fix the mistake he did all those years ago when he let his feelings for her get more important than the promises he had made to his family. In order to achieve that, he had spies, contacts in the supernatural world ready to call him from all corners of the world if the elusive Katerina Petrova was sighted.

There had been a few close calls. He had gotten to the right place but only hours after she had left already. Once he even arrived to see her run on the other side of the street but she had prevented him from following her with a well placed distraction. She was apparently very good at hiding but he couldn't give up. His family was what was the most important to him and if catching her was what it took to have peace with his brother, then he would catch her. Plus, she needed to pay for using him and playing with his feelings like she did with so many others. Katerina Petrova needed a reality check and Elijah would be very willing to give it to her.

His latest clue had been that Katerina Petrova was attending a school called McKinley High, in Lima, Ohio. Of course he found it odd that she'd choose to go to school when she had never attended a class in all of her years but maybe she was craving some normalcy. As he drove there as fast as he could, Elijah wondered why she would go to such a place but then again, she had been on the run for so long, seen so many places, that she was probably looking for something new, something different, even if it was only for a few hours.

When he finally arrived to the high school, it was the end of classes and the beginning of after school activities. Footbal, cheerleading, divers other clubs... He made his way inside and headed immediately for the principal's office.

"I'm sorry sir but Principal Figgins left two hours ago for an important appointment. I can take a message if you want..." The secretary suggested as she looked at him in a way that told him he wouldn't need compulsion to have answers from her.

"I'm looking for this girl. Have you seen her around?" Elijah asked her as he showed the woman a picture of Katerina taken a couple of years ago by one of his informant to prove that he had found her.

"Oh, that's Katherine Pierce. Yes, she was a student here for a couple of months." The woman nodded.

"Was?" He asked.

"She left yesterday, took her file, her parents apparently want her to be home schooled in their next town." She replied.

"Would you happen to know where that is?" He asked her.

"No, I'm sorry. We didn't get her new address. You should talk with Coach Sue Sylvester though. Katherine was one of her cheerleaders. One of the best I think. She'd know." The woman informed him and after inquiring as to where he would find the cheer-leading coach, Elijah left her office.

A few minutes later, Elijah found himself in front of a woman so intimidating he could imagine her scaring his father off. Quickly and politely, Elijah introduced himself, saying that he was an FBI agent (he had a fake ID for this) and that Katherine was suspect in a kidnapping, that he was looking to interrogate her to see if she was simply a witness that got scared into hiding or a culprit trying not to be found out. She seemed to believe him enough.

"Well, I don't know if she's guilty or not but she was one of the best cheerleader I've ever had under my care. She could have gone far that one... I could have taken her all the way to the top... She did look on edge though, always looking around her like she was expecting to have to run..." The short haired woman informed him.

"Did she tell you where she was going?" He asked her.

"No, she didn't. I didn't care to ask either. All I know is that she was sad to have to leave, like being here was the best thing to have ever happened to her."

"Do you know if she had any friends here?" He asked her.

"She got along pretty well with all the other cheerleaders but she never got too close to them. Another reason why I liked her so much. She wasn't the over sharing type. It distanced her from the other girls but it also made her stronger, better. She looked like the kind of girl that's ready to kill to be on top of the pyramid. I respect that since I'm the same way." Coach Sue told him happily, crushing his hope that someone else might know where she had gone to.

"Well, thank you for your time. Good luck on your competition. Here's my number, please call me if you get more informations or if she tries to contact you, this is very important." Elijah told the coach before he turned around and left the room, stopping in the doorway as Sue Sylvester yelled at her cheerleader like a sergeant general would yell at his troops before heading to war.

Shaking his head with an amused smile on his lips, he couldn't help but imagine what would Mickeal's reaction be to this woman. Every possibility he came up with were funny to him.

Knowing that this lead had been another that came too late, Elijah took his time leaving the school, as if he was hoping for something to happen, to hold him back. Maybe someone would find him with miracle information... Maybe Coach Sylvester didn't know Katherine as well as she thought she did, maybe she had a hidden best friend or something.

As he walked, he found himself hearing a pure and powerful voice that seemed to be able to touch his soul.

A girl was singing Defying Gravity in the room on his left and her voice was heavenly, like she was an angel singing with some supernatural power to reach into his soul and remind him of the man he always wanted to be, the man he could be again. It was more beautiful than anything he had ever heard and he found himself yearning to hear more.

As discreetly as he could, he looked through the window of the door that lead in the choir room and watched a teen brunette singing this Wicked song as if she was living it and it meant the world to her. Looking around, he noticed that she was alone inside so he opened the door and came in, wondering if she'd notice him and interrupt her singing or if she was too deeply in her own world to see him.

If she didn't stop singing, she did notice his presence and turned around to look at him while continuing her singing. Motioning for her to keep going, she smiled and continued her song, holding the high notes perfectly and singing for him only, making the thousand years old vampire feel much better about himself and what he needed to do for his family.

"You're very talented." He told her.

"Thank you... We're having a sing off in glee tomorrow and I want to be perfect, I need to win this, to show them all that I'm the best." she replied before she added "Who are you? Are you a new teacher?"

"I'm afraid not. I came looking for Katherine Pierce but it appear I was too late." he replied, unable to lie to her and not knowing why he felt so compelled to talk to her.

"I knew there was something weird about her... She always got whatever she wanted when she looked people in the eyes and she ran out of there as if she had the devil running after her. I was personally hoping she'd get caught by whoever was after her. I know that many people don't believe me but I'm a bit psychic and I felt that she wasn't a good person, that there was something supernatural about her, something evil." The girl told him and he could feel that she was special.

"My name is Elijah. Elijah Mickealson." He introduced himself, showing her his hand to shake.

"Rachel Berry." She replied, shaking his hand.

"I'm delighted to meet you." He replied.

"Likewise. So, are you leaving now? To look for Katherine elsewhere?" she asked him.

"That was the plan, yes. I might stick around a while longer... Hiding in a school is not like her, I might try to see if she got close enough to stay in touch with anyone." he replied, not understanding why the thought of never seeing Rachel Berry again was troubling him.

"Well, if you leave me a way to contact you I could warn you if she ever comes back... I might not be super popular with the crowd she usually ran with but a few of them are in Glee club and since they work so hard to ignore me, I can easily listen in on their conversations." she offered.

"I'd love that. Thank you. So, why are you working so hard to impress your friends?" he asked her.

"They're not my friends. I'd like them to be and work hard to let them in but they don't like me. Maybe because they're too impressed by my talent, maybe because they know that I'll actually manage to get out of this town and achieve my dream to be a Broadway star in New York. I want to remind them that they can't win Sectionals and get to Regionals without me, that they need me." She replied honestly.

Elijah smiled in amusement.

"You seem pretty confident, I like it." He told her, making her blush.

"You're not really human either, are you?" She asked him after looking at him for a while.

"What makes you say that?" He asked her.

"I don't know... Instinct? My so called psychic powers..." She suggested.

"Well, they're right."

"Are you going to tell me what you are?" she asked him.

"Who knows, maybe one day, if you haven't figured it out before." He told her with a smile.

"So, you heard me sing... What do you think I should change to be perfect?"

"Personally, I've heard a lot of versions of this song and you do it justice. I don't think you have to change anything. It's perfect the way you sing it. You make me feel as though we are about to defy gravity." He replied, doing his best to reassure her.

"Thank you... It's refreshing to have someone who isn't my dads telling me that I do have talent. Mister Shuester, our Glee club adviser, isn't very generous on compliments for me... He'd rather help everyone else work on their own talent than help me get even better."

"Maybe he's jealous of your talent as well." he suggested.

"Yeah, maybe." She sighted.

"Well, whenever you feel like you need someone to talk to or you need a compliment on your talent, feel free to use this phone number. I'll be happy to help." He smiled at her.

"Why would you even care?" she asked him, confused that such an handsome man would care about little her.

"Because hearing you sing reminded me of the man I used to be and want to go back to being. You have a true talent Rachel, you can touch people's souls with your voice. I want to make sure you never forget it." He replied.

"Well, thank you Elijah, I'll take you up on your offer." She told him with a bright smile and in that moment, Elijah was more confused than ever.

The thousand years old vampire didn't know why this young human girl was intriguing him so much, why he wanted her to be safe and happy, why he wanted her dreams to come true. He needed to leave, to distance himself from her in order to see things more clearly.

"I'm afraid I have to go soon. Why don't you sing it one more time, for me." he suggested.

"You'll be gone before I finish the song, won't you?" She asked him.

"Maybe. I don't like goodbyes, but don't worry, I'll come back to see you sing at Sectionals." He assured her.

"Okay then. I hope you find Katherine, whatever the reason why you want her is." Rachel replied before she started singing again.

"Something as changes, within me.

Something is not the same.

I'm through with playing by the rules of someone else's game.

Too late for second guesses, too late to go back to sleep.

It's time to trust my instincts, close my eyes and leap..."

As Rachel sang, Elijah'd head filled with thoughts of the past. Rachel did change something in him, she made him see things more clearly. Catching Katerina would help but it wasn't enough to bring peace to his family, to Klaus. What he needed was to stop playing by the rules of Klaus' game and create his own. He was, after all, the eldest in their family (Mickeal didn't count). He needed to take charge, show Niklaus that he was a real part of their family, that even if they moved away from him sometime, they weren't betraying him, they were still his siblings, they still loved him. Who his father was didn't matter to them.

It wouldn't be easy but he could do it. Maybe it would distract him from Rachel's angelic voice, the way she made his dead heart feel and the thoughts she put in his head.

"Kiss me goodbye, I'm defying gravity,

I think I'll try defying gravity,

and you won't bring me down!"

Smiling as the way she closed her eyes to sing the last note better, Elijah rushed out of the room in a 'whoosh', whispering in her ear "Don't let them bring you down." before he left and keeping an ear on her until he definitely couldn't hear her anymore. He was in the parking lot when she whispered "Goodbye Elijah" and it made him smile.

He had made his way to the edge of town when his cellphone biped. Taking it in his hand, he smiled at the text he had gotten from his angel.

"It was nice to meet you mystery man. I'll think of you tomorrow when I sing against Kurt." She had texted him.

"You'll beat him. Don't forget that you're the best this town will ever see." he replied.

"Thanks. Good luck on your researches. Talk to you soon." She sent next.

"I'll stay in touch. See you at Sectionals, even if you don't see me." He replied with a smile on his face and hope in his chest.

Yes, he would definitely come back to see her perform at Sectionals. He felt in his heart the need to know that she had achieved everything she could achieve.

Elijah kept driving. He needed to find Niklaus now and try to work things out. Bring him to un-dagger their siblings. Be a family again. Maybe even help him find a peaceful way to break his curse without killing anyone innocent. There had to be a way.

As he drove, the memory of Rachel's voice haunted him, preventing him to concentrate on anything that wasn't her and guiding his thoughts where she seemed to want them to go. He didn't know what she was but he knew one thing: meeting her was a life changing event, even for him. He was going to let it lead him to wherever he needed to be now.

So, this is the first part of what is going to be a short story. 4 chapters and an alternate ending (so a total of 5 chapters that are already written).

Everything is already written and planed out.

Feel free to review and let me think what you like and don't like. Let me know what you think.

Keep on reading me.

Lorelei Candice Black

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